HUMAN
by Crysi102
Summary: Ezreal always hated free week, but when a chance encounter leads to a strange promise, he may find that the week isn't as bad as he thought. (A/N: Updates slow, but will continue)
1. Chapter 1: HUMAN

Ezreal was an explorer, that much was obvious to anyone. He hated sitting still and being forced to pay attention to a bland lecture someplace. He'd much rather be out in the field, exploring temples of long forgotten civilizations. When the League required his attendance, however, he had to settle for something else; inspecting artifacts. Inspecting the artifacts from the temples was almost- ALMOST- as great as actually exploring the temples themselves. Unfortunately this time through the free rotation (a time when he simply COULDN'T leave because of the amount of novices wanting to summon him) he had somehow missed the memo, and was highly lacking aincent artifacts.

As one can imagine, Ezreal was really, _really_ bored.

The Prodigal Explorer sighed and flopped into a chair in one of the more secluded lounges, boredom permeating every inch of his being. Some of the other free champions for the week were waiting for their next Summoning, just as he was. There was a severe lack of ranged units in the area, as Ashe had fallen ill just before the rotation. Ezreal hadn't been set for the rotation for another month. A MONTH! But no, Ashe had to get sick and make the Summoners look for another ranged unit to use in the rotation. How exactly the spot had become his wasn't the issue. He was simply frustrated that his scheduled exploration for the week had been interrupted. There would be no other time to get out to the temple until the rotation was through. Then, however, he would have to have a reduced time to explore due to the need to return by his next rotation.

Until he could leave, he was stuck with his boredom.

He had been chosen as the ranged Champion this rotation. Garen was a melee, Aatrox was as well. Warwick was a possible jungler along with Blitzcrank, and Viegar had been a possible mid or sorcer. The only support in the group was Orianna, but many played the Lady of Clockwork as a carry or mid-laner. The novices who knew no better chose Ezreal as a support character. Or at least tried. The Prodigal Explorer had a headache from the pure amount of 'deaths' he'd had today alone. The blonde teen rubbed his head with a groan, thankful that there weren't many Champions in this lounge.

"Something is the matter."

Ezreal jumped at the sudden voice that came from the person who appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"Orianna! I didn't see you there."

The Lady of Clockwork's nearly static face tilted to the side as she met his eye. "Did you not? I have been here for a time."

"Oh, you were?" Ezreal must have not realized the golden Champion had been standing right behind him the entire time he had been sitting.

"I was."

The duo sat- or stood- in awkward silence as they contemplated what to say. Ezreal's headache still throbbed dully in his skull, and a strange ticking noise from Orianna's direction pulsed through the air. Ezreal noticed The Ball- Orianna's very strange other part- hovering between the two of them, its large lens focused on the blonde teen.

Ezreal found his eye attracted to the head-sized object that floated in the air by Orianna. He knew little of the device, but from what he did know was that the Lady of Clockwork used The Ball as a source for all of her attacks when in the Fields of Justice. It was the center of most of her strength, allowed her allies buffs and shields if needed, and also showed a small area of sight to the Summoners as well as Orianna herself. If The Ball had any other significance to the Lady of Clockwork, Ezreall had no idea, but the way she regarded the object was almost as one would regard a close friend.

Or a pet.

Ezreal shivered.

Orianna donned what could be called a curious expression as she stared at Ezreal's blonde hair. Her skirt- Ezreal realized suddenly- was the source of the constant ticking noise. The sharp looking 'garment' rotated in a sharp circle sporadically. Ezreal jumped when he felt a hand touch his hair.

"What are you doing?" Ezreal exclaimed in surprise, moving away from the clockwork girl and to the other side of the chair. Orianna's expression turned to one that could be called sadness- if one stretched the meaning of the word from Demacia to Ionia and back again. The Lady of Clockwork's expressions were inhuman, oddly shaped and hard to describe. Regardless, Ezreal felt a pang of pity as he looked at Orianna's slight slump of sadness, even though it bent her joints in the wrong fashion.

"What is it like?" She asked.

"What? What's what like?"

"Being human."

Ezreal froze at the question. How was he to respond to that? He simply stared at the clockwork girl with confusion on his face. Orianna's upper body twisted to the side, and her expression grew to resemble being expectant.

"Uh... well..." Ezreal stuttered. "It's... well, it's hard."

Orianna leaned forward, The Ball ticking beside her. "Hard how?"

Ezreal felt his cheeks heat up unintentionally from the close proximity of their faces now. He stuttered a bit before finally speaking again. "It's complicated."

"What is complicated about being human?" Orianna persisted. "Father always said I was alive, but the Summoners do not seem to agree. I have heard the others talking about me and The Ball. They say I am not alive, I am not human. Why? What do I have to do to be human?"

Ezreal's mouth pulled into a thin line as he thought. Finally, he answered. "Being human is complicated because we have emotions. I don't know if anyone thinks you feel emotion like the rest of us, so it's strange to them."

Orianna recoiled sharply, almost as if offended. "Emotions? I have emotions."

"Well, there's more than just emotions involved in being human."

"Like what?" Orianna demanded.

"Well, we... um..." Ezreal trailed off.

"Is that it?" Her voice was a whisper now. Ezreal stayed quiet.

Orianna let out a very robotic sigh and sat on the armrest of the chair Ezreal sat in. The Ball came closer to her and touched her hand as she reached to it. Small crackles of energy came off The Ball as it hovered under Orianna's hand. Ezreal found himself perplexed by the show of friendly affection between the two clockwork creations. He found himself almost feeling sorry for the girl of clockwork. They sat for what felt like eternity until Ezreal finally broke the silence.

"What's it like?"

"What is what like?" Orianna looked up at Ezreal in surprise, The Ball mirroring her movement with its own strange eye.

"Being not human."

Orianna stared at the blonde explorer in silence, and all Ezreal heard was her soft ticking. Finally, she spoke.

"It is hard."

Ezreal nodded and chose not to respond. The next Summoner should be ready to be choosing by now. Who knew when either of them would be chosen? Ezreal felt a pang of sadness at the thought of the conversation ending, despite the fact that it hadn't gone much of anywhere anyway. He had always found the Technamagicural clockwork girl to be intriguing. She reminded him so much of artifacts he'd found from ancient civilizations, but she wasn't ancient. No, the technology in Orianna and The Ball was some of the most advanced Ezreal had ever seen. It would be nice to learn more about her. Despite being artificial, she did seem quite human in disposition. An idea sparked in the back of the blonde's mind.

"Hey, Orianna?" Ezreal found himself asking.

"Yes?" Orianna replied as she watched over The Ball which was now flying around in what would seem to be a form of play.

"Would you like me to teach you what it's like to be human?"

The clockwork girl froze. She slowly diverted her gaze from The Ball and turned to look at the explorer.

"You would... teach me?"

"To the best of my abilities, sure." Ezreal knew how much Orianna unnerved the other Champions. Her semihuman appearance didn't help much, as her voice was void of emotion and her expressions were muted at best. He was likely one of the only ones who could stand to be in the same room as her for this long. He inspected her golden plated face carefully to find some form of emotion. He was slightly surprised when she broke into a wide grin.

"Thank you, Ezreal!" She turned to the ball, jumping up ecstatically. "Did you hear that? We get to learn how to be human!" The Ball chirped and flew into Orianna's hug, sending her upper body into a spin as she let out a crude and robotic laugh.

Ezreal allowed himself a small smile at the sight. Orianna probably knew more about being human than he himself did. The soft ticking in the room blended with her laughs, and Ezreal was happy to find he had no more headache. He wasn't looking forward to another game Summoned by a complete novice, but he figured that if he was lucky enough, Orianna would be Summoned too. That would probably be worth it.

Ezreal felt the familiar tingling that signaled the start of the Summoning spell. He met eyes with Orianna and smiled. She wasn't Summoned this time. Oh well.

"I can start teaching you as soon as I get back."

Orianna tilted her head to the side, her skirt spinning as she let her hand wave to the explorer and The Ball bounced in the air beside her, its eye focusing on the blonde.

"I will be waiting."

* * *

**A/N: While this is my first LoL fanfic, it will not be my last. I have a really long story that I'm writing with the help of my friend BringerOfHope (that being his LoL username... he's normally called Arbiter) that will be showing up soon, but I wanted to write this up to get a feel for the world and a few characters.**

**This pairing is a thing now. I tried so hard to find a story that was Ezreal/Orianna centric, but there were none, so here I am with this. The thought hit me randomly one day, and I had to write it. Ez and Ori are two of my mains, so this is a really adorable thing to me. I dub it 'Ezanna'! There, it is done.**

**In any case, if there is any sort of reaction to this, I will continue it, because I have more ideas in my head for these two. It would NOT be anything higher in rating than T for violence and/or sensitive material and language. In any case, tell me what you guys think, alright? Be as nit-picky as you want. Seriously, pick this thing apart. Are they in character? Is it too superficial? Did I mess up the use of a comma someplace? Yeah, rip it to pieces. I want to hear what you all have to say.**

**Until the first reviews come in...**

**-Crysi**


	2. Chapter 2: Headache

They were in danger of losing their fifth turret as Ezreal ran haphazardly up the river, heading for Mid lane. He cringed at the amount of noise he was making. This was one reason he hated novice Summoners. They didn't know the meaning of 'stealth.' This gank would not end well.

_'Come on, faster!'_ The voice in the back of Ezreal's mind belonged to his Summoner; a constant nagging of an inexperianced idiot who unfortunately controled Ezreal's every move at the moment.

The Explorer felt like a puppet, his movements sharp and unnatural as he ran. He deduced that the Summoner he had now once played a tank. His suspicion was supported by the Flash into mid in an attempt to chase a low-health Teemo. The frienly Mid-laner, Xerath, immediately turned to run due to extremely low health, and Ezreal wanted so badly to follow. His Summoner, however, did not, and immediately ran toward the top lane river in pursuit of the yordle scout.

Ezreal mentally cursed as he stepped on a poision mushroom. The purple dust sent a wave of nausea through him, and his movements slowed as he stumbled into the bush.

_'Oh shi-'_ The Summoner hissed. Ezreal knew what was coming next as he stared into the faces of the enemy.

The Charm hit, and Ezreal—unable to do anything else—squeezed his eyes shut. He barely felt the pain of the attacks that hit him before he vanished in a flash of white. The announcer's voice echoed through his ears.

**YOU HAVE BEEN SLAIN**

No, really?

When he peeled his eyes open, Ezreal was floating in the all-too-familear black of the Nexus. He would remain here for a set amount of time as a peanalty for dying (which hadn't been his fault anyway—it was all thanks to that Summoner) before he could return to the Rift and continue his 17-death streak. He sighed and sat with his legs and arms crossed. Or, he tried to sit. Was it even possible to 'sit' when floating in a magical space with nothing other than yourself? A bitter mood had settled in his stomach along with the nausea of so many deaths. Why couldn't he have gotten a better Summoner? The experianced ones would have known that was a really, REALLY bad idea. Who knows? He might actually have been played as a proper Carry for once.

_'Dammit, why are you so slow?'_ The Summoner complained. _'I KNEW I should have stayed with a Jungler!'_

_So, why did you try to carry then?_ Ezreal thought to himself, knowing the Summoner would be too caught up in his own thoughts to hear. The idiot could have chosen to go with a normal Jungler, or even a Tank. Why had he tried to Carry? They were totally different styles of fighting, totally separate skills and instincts were needed. While Tanks could jump into a 2v1 and escape nearly unharmed, a Carry would most likely be murdered without much challenge. Especially with the type of items and buffs Ezreal had recieved. When a Carry only had two tears of the goddess and a dagger in the midgame, there was something horribly wrong.

_'God, this champion SUCKS!'_ The Summoner yelled. _'I'm through with this crap!'_

Great.

Just great.

Ezreal was happy to not have the nagging of the Summoner in his mind. On the other hand, that meant he was now fighting blind. There was no Summoner to support him, tell him what was happening. It was up to him.

**AN ALLY HAS BEEN SLAIN**

**ENEMY DOUBLE KILL**

**ENEMY TRIPLE KILL**

**ENEMY QUADRA KILL**

Completely up to him.

Great.

Ezreal still had several seconds until he would reappear in the Rift. The wait was sufficiant enough for the enemy to destroy the Inhibitor and push straight up to the Nexus. They made quick work of one turret, and by the time Ezreal was able to start running at them, they were almost through with the second of the Nexus turrets.

An arcane shift set him up perfectly for a Trueshot Barrage. If only he could charge it fast enough. The magical energy radiated around him, focusing, building. With a shout he raised in the air, pure golden arcane energy forming an arc around him. He prepared to let the shot loose, only to be stopped by a high-pitched scream of an energy release and Master Yi's sword through his gut.

**ENEMY PENTA KILL**

**ACE**

"You just had to finish with the Ace, didn't you?" Ezreal growled at the announcer. The mysterious voice always seemed so happy to say that. 'Ace.' It would be just as good to say 'There goes the last of them! Great job! You win!'

Dammit.

As if to answer the blonde, the announcer spoke one final word for the match.

**DEFEAT**

"Shut up..." Ezreal grumbled. The soft blue glow of magic enveolped him, and within seconds he was standing in the main hall of the Institute of War alongside the other Champions who were just recalled from the Rift. That included his very sour-looking teammates.

While the purple team were busy high-fiving and congratulating Yi on yet another penta, the blue team glared at each other in displeasure. The only one not glaring was Sona, who quietly stared down at her etwahl in shame of having failed their Carry. Ezreal was tempted to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but the glares from the other teammates were unnerving. He decided to leave before anything could happen.

The Institute of War Main Hall was a large open area with several different raised platforms engraved with circles of magic. These circles—numbering four in total—were spaced evenly around the Hall, and served as return points from the Fields. Along the sides of the Hall were hallways that Ezreal knew led to spectating rooms. Several Summoners and Champions filtered out of those hallways and others appeared in flashes of magic as matches ended. The purple robed Summoners were numerous, and talked amongst themselves in far corners. This was where they spent most of their time; the Champions had a separate tower mostly to themselves.

Ezreal let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as he meandered through the crowd to the Institute doors. He couldn't help but notice the crowd parting slightly as he walked by, the sidelong glances or glares coming from Summoners, the unspoken words that hung in the air but were no doubt whispered behind backs. The blonde scowled and walked a little faster.

Once he finally was out of the Institute Hall, Ezreal was able to relax a bit. The courtyard was less crowded; only a few Summoners and Champions (even some Champions-to-be; it was coming to be _that_ time again) wandered about. He set his sights on the far side of the Leauge; to the West wing.

There were only three main buildings in the League of Legends. The farthest East was the Institute Hall, which he had just left. That tended to be one of the busiest spots on the grounds as almost everything happened there. Across the courtyard sat the Champion Tower, or the West wing. That was where the Champions lived and worked. Where the seemingly infinite Summoners lived, Ezreal didn't know, nor did he care. All that mattered was the free dorms and free food. The final building was the largest, and the most well known. It was the League Tower; an immense show of archetectural genius that rose almost thirty floors high, giving it an intimidating appearance when seen on the horizion. That was the location of Ranked matches and Official events and championships. The only inhabitants of the tower that Ezreal knew of were the members of the High Council of Summoners. Then again, the blonde had only ever seen the first floor of the tower, so he wouldn't know anything more. Perhaps the Summoners all lived in the tower? It was possible.

Ezreal made his way down the halls of the West wing toward the secluded lounge that he practically lived in during free weeks. The wing was eerily quiet for this time of day, and the blonde found himself almost running to the door, only stopping when it was firmly shut behind him.

The lounge was void of life, as normal, with the slightest trails of dust showing in the rays of sunlight that filtered through the windows. The windows hadn't been cleaned in who-knew-how-long, but Ezreal found that the accumulated dust blocked out just the right amount of sunlight. Besides, he could always clean them if he wanted to. He was the only one who ever ventured to such an old part of the building. He suspected it was because of the dust.

"You are back."

Ezreal startled at the voice, barely holding back what he predicted could have been a highly embarassing squeak. "Orianna," he managed, whirling around to face the dancer, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"But I have been here. You snuck up on me." Orianna was sitting cross legged on a short table with The Ball on her lap. She stood, letting The Ball hover to her shoulder as she smoothly got to her feet. How had he not noticed the ticking of her skirt when he entered?

"Well," He hesitated, "That doesn't count. I didn't know you were here, so I was the one who got snuck up on."

"Oh."

The two stood facing each other for a long while; the Explorer leaning awkwardly on the windowsill and the Dancer ticking away in the silence.

"How did you do?" Orianna finally asked.

"Do what?"

"In the battle. Did you win?"

"No."

Orianna cocked her head, her blue eyes portraying only a portion of the curiosity the action held. "Why?"

"Because some people don't know how to ADC." Ezreal huffed, chewing angrily on the corner of his lip.

"Oh."

An uncomfortable silence engulfed the room as both Champions did not know what to say. Orianna put a hand on The Ball, patting it gently. Ezreal allowed his eyes to wander, studying the walls or the furniture, anything but the Lady of Clockwork.

"Ezreal...?" Orianna finally asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you teach us now? About being human?"

Ezreal wasn't in the mood to teach anything, but he made the mistake of looking at the Lady of Clockwork's shining blue eyes. Her face was so static, so inhuman, but her eyes. Her eyes. They were blue, like his own, but more vibrant. His own eyes were almost a frosted blue, more gray than anything. Her eyes were bright, lit by magic and technology, but shining with something more. She had no iris or pupil, only a small circle of soft white in a sea of sky blue. They were wanting, waiting, expecting. Begging.

Ezreal sighed and moved over to a wooden chair by a small table, sitting on it backward. "Alright, but remember, I may not be the best to ask about this."

Orianna merely nodded and sat down on the floor, The Ball sitting—floating on?—her lap.

"The first thing to know about humans is that we aren't perfect..."

* * *

**A/N: Hey you guys! Imma back! :D**

**I warned you guys that updates would be slow, but if you really want me to update, if it's been more than three weeks or so, bug me about it. I most likely have just been busy and forgot to finish the chapter and post it. Don't be afraid to be like the guest that just bugged me about an update... I won't bite. and most likely, I will give you a chapter! :)**

**So, as you can see, I chose to add a bit about the battles in the Rift. The battles won't be too long, or too much of the story, but they will be important. Also, I want to add a bit about at least one of my Summoner OCs as a minor character. If any of you have Summoners you would like to have minor apperances, then you can ask via PM. Don't add them in the Reviews. Unless you're a guest... lol, I don't know. **

**Anywho, the next chapter may take a while. School is piling on and I'm also working on the other LoL fic I'm writing. I'll try and be faster this time though. XD**

**Until next time~**


End file.
